Wind turbines have been used for several hundred years for pumping water, grinding grain, and providing the motive power for other mechanical devices. More recently, wind has been adopted as a means of generating electricity. In general, wind turbines consist of a tall rigid tower with a set of spinning blades facing into the wind. Most wind turbines have blades in excess of 100 ft. long with multiple blades per turbine. Some of the limitations of these wind turbines are caused by turbine blade instability at the ends of the blades due to high speeds, maintaining balance to prevent wobble, and induced vibration. Since the blades are not enclosed, their speed cannot be controlled except by varying the pitch of the blades. For these reasons, wind turbines may become damaged and unusable in high winds. Also, the turbine blades moving through the air are responsible for the death of millions of birds and bats each year, many of which are endangered species.
Accordingly, what is needed is an energy conversion system for converting the kinetic energy of a moving or flowing fluid into potential and useful energy and that is highly efficient and that protects against being damaged itself and against damaging other things.